Episode 01 - Hello Friends!
is the first episode of the Aikatsu Friends! anime series. It aired on April 5th, 2018.All information on this page belongs to Aikatsu Friends! Wiki. Summary Aine Yūki is a girl who attends Star Harmony Academy's normal division. The spring break before her second year of middle school, she meets the academy's top idol, Mio Minato. Aine, who's good at making friends, immediately hits it off with Mio, but under Mio's request, they are to stand together on an Aikatsu! stage...!? Plot One day while running home with groceries, Aine is greeted by her friends. She stops for a second and once they deduce she is in the middle of errands, she suggests they hang out before heading for home. Upon arrival she hands the items over before getting to work picking strawberries. Enticed by it's freshness, she sneakily tries to eat one- only to realize she has been put under the watchful eye of Penne; the penguin mascot of the family. She asks that he doesn't tell and returns inside to tell her parents about her trip to the market. She explains how she was given extra, due to befriending their daughter, and her parents happily compliment how easily she makes friends as she begins to update her Friend Album. Aine brings up her desire to make a million friends, and how school will be starting soon again when suddenly the Penguin Cafe gets a call. Her mother asks her to make the delivery and Aine takes off after they prepare the requested item. While admiring the scenery Aine makes her way to the delivery sight. She unknowingly interrupts a group of people preparing for work and asks them where she can find someone by the name of "Minato", and a woman approaches. She expresses disappointment that "that girl" ordered on her own again, confusing Aine until someone calls for Tamaki, the woman who started to talk. She asks Aine to take the order over to the nearby woods, where the girl is located and Aine agrees. In the woods, Aine looks around and happens to spot a girl standing nearby, radiant as she admires the tall trees. Aine greets the girl when she spots her and is taken aback before running up to her with the order. When Aine asks her why she is there the girl is surprised, but explains how she was on break and had hoped lunch would arrive soon. Aine deduces that she is the person she was looking for and sits down with her as both girls say the name of the item- surprising them for a moment. The girl takes a bite and compliments the sandwich, giving elaborate praise as Aine thanks her and explains how it is the Cafe's specialty. She claims they have a lot of other good food though, and the girl decides to order from there again. Before they can speak any longer, Aine suddenly realizes the time and decides to leave- incidentally forgetting to bill the girl as Tamaki tries to stop her to bring this up. Aine is unable to hear them however, and the girl goes on to apologize and decide to pay them a visit later to pay. With that she returns to her modeling work. She changes clothing and poses with a bag, stopping momentarily to request they change its colors because she thinks it would look better. They agree and everyone claims she made a great decision. After the shoot, the girl prepares to go when Tamaki reminds her that they will need to find a partner for her next show. The girl expresses confusion until Tamaki explains that everyone is required to enter in pairs. She suggests that since it's a one-time event, it doesn't really matter who she picks- but the girl finds that unacceptable. Tamaki asks if she had anyone in mind, and the girl admits that she doesn't; however, forming a Friends unit means binding both members Aikatsu together, and she doesn't want to waste a single opportunity to find someone to reach the level of Diamond Friends. For the time being she decides it would be better to figure it out on her own, and Tamaki agrees. She does suggest to the girl that she tries to find someone she may not have considered normally though, as this could be an enlightening experience. At Penguin Cafe, the girl returns and while wondering if she found the right place, she suddenly hears yelling and turns to find children being chased by Aine, all brandishing fake swords as they quickly hide around her. Aine is horrified after she accidentally, gently taps the girl with her fake sword and profusely apologizes for this. Together the girls sit down and she hands Aine the funds she forgot to pay, with Aine apologizing for inconveniencing her since she got so distracted, that she forgot to ask for the pay. The girl insists she didn't mind, and clarifies that she isn't hurt after Aine asks, going on to introduce herself as Mio. Aine tells Mio her name as well and the three boys from earlier approach, asking to resume their game of Cops and Robbers. Aine finds herself unable to resist and complains over how hard they are to catch. Seeing Mio, she attempts to get her consider playing with them and hesitantly Mio agrees. The girls watch the little boys begin to run around on the playground below and with no reconsidering, Aine suddenly slides down the railing of the stairs before them; with Mio joining her a few seconds later and finding the ride to be fun. With little to no effort, Mio manages to outrun the boy and stop him, then together with Aine they surround the second boy and soon end the game with the capture of the third boy. As they run off to play the girls make small talk, with Aine apologizing to Mio again for getting her involved. Mio claims not to mind however, since it's been a few years that she really got to let loose and have some fun at the playground like that. She had a lot of fun; but before she can linger on this she suddenly gets a call. To give Mio some space, Aine walks off to talk to the little boys. She suggests they return home for a snack and notices how frustrated Mio looks. She asks if something happened, then offers to help in anyway she can because they are now friends. For a moment Mio is confused and asks about this, and Aine explains that because she played with her little brother and his friends, this is her way of thanking her. She claims Mio can ask her anything, and Mio thinks about Tamaki's words from earlier. She realizes Aine may be this very person and inspired, she tells Aine that she does have a big favor to ask- but it will require a lot of effort and time. Aine doesn't hesitate to accept and insists she is fine with it, only to express shock after Mio asks her to Aikatsu with her. That evening, Aine and her mother are preparing dinner while her sisters go crazy over the Idol Unit on television. The girls introduce themselves as Karen and Mirai, the members of Love Me Tear. When Aine doesn't appear to know who they are though, her little sister is quick to scold her and they begin to fill her in on how popular the unit is. They bring up how popular they are on AiTube, and how they have obtained legendary Diamond Friend status- along with fawning over their gorgeous dresses. Aine earnestly had no idea though, and as she begins bringing the meal to the table her older brother asks about Idols attending her school. He is confused that she wouldn't know anything about Love Me Tear, and Aine claims that she doesn't have any friends in the Idol courses at school, as it takes place in a different building than her own. However, she did make her first Idol friend: Mio Minato. As soon as Aine says this her sisters are shocked and run up to her, telling her that Mio is the Top Idol at the school right now. Aine isn't very surprised though, and nonchalantly brings up how Mio asked her to do a show with her; shocking them even further and trying to deny this even happening. They claim Aine couldn't possibly handle this since she has never done Aikatsu before- but Aine refuses to turn down the request due to wanting to help her brand new friends. She plans to do everything she can to help her though. Meanwhile, Tamaki has been reviewing information related to Aine and expresses doubt for her decision. She asks why she would chose her, a student not even in the Idol courses when she has countless Idols dying to partner with her, but after Mio claims to have "had a spark", she decides to trust her since they are out of time. With the time they have remaining the girls quickly get to training the following day. Aine is quick to find herself overwhelmed as they jog and do several push-ups, only continuing as Mio pushes her and inspires her by telling her to shout "Aikatsu!". Eventually Aine gives in after having only done one-hundred push-ups in comparison to Mio's eight-hundred, but to her horror she learns they still need to stretch, work on vocalization, voice training, dance lessons, and several other activities. Mio reminds Aine of her words when she expresses further shock, and seeing that she has no other option she continues to train as Mio offers advice. Soon the sun begins to set and Aine collapses with exhaustion. Mio returns with a drink for her and brings up that her offer was genuine and serious, and how tough Aikatsu can actually be. She believes they can become great friends, and seeing the faith she has in her, Aine feels energized and asks to continue. Eventually the event arrives and Aine stiffly walks along with Mio as several fawn over her. As they are led to their waiting room, Aine's family is shown in the audience, excitedly waiting for the performance to begin. Tamaki reveals the outfits she got for the girls, and Aine is quickly taken by them as the two explain the images meant to be given with the Pink and Blue Link coords and how they completes the balance between them by using accent colors from the other girls dress. Happily Aine takes the cards and admires Mio's beautiful collection of coords she has worn in the past, which she keeps in a binder she carries around. She compares it to her Friend Album and explains her dream of making a million friends someday. Just then a man comes by to inform them that they will be starting soon and Tamaki takes off to watch from the audience. With them being left alone, Aine's nerves soon became apparent. She internally panics until Mio makes a suggestion that she thinks of something unrelated to the performance that makes her smile. She doesn't understand at first, until Mio brings up that it could be food- surprising them when they both say "A tomato, basil, and cheese special sandwich". After sharing a laugh Mio asks Aine if she feels better, and Aine confirms that she does, saying that she is really happy they became friends. Mio agrees and after sharing words of encouragement the girls head off to change. They reappear on stage and perform "Aikatsu Friends!". After the performance, Mio returns to another room and thinks about how wonderful their performance went. Aine managed to pass her expectations- with Tamaki agreeing as she joins her. She brings up that despite this being their first time performing together they managed to pull off a Friends Appeal and how they remained in perfect sync, causing Mio to give it some thought. Outside Aine thinks about the performance while observing a group of birds nearby. She is left with a warm feeling as she recalls her friends and family cheering for her in the audience, and how she felt to be with Mio on the stage. As Mio joins her she expresses happiness, saying that being cheered on by everyone made her feel really good. She didn't think they would really like it and comments on how amazing Idols are. Mio agrees, and brings up that if she was to become an Idol, she will gain more friends in the form of her cards and the cheering fans. She stops suddenly and claims that Aine's dream won't be just a dream any longer, and requests that Aine joins her as permanent Idol. At first Aine is taken by surprise but she quickly accepts as the bell begin to ring in the distance. It is shown a while later that she updated her journal to include an entry of the performance. Characters *Aine Yūki *Mio Minato *Tamaki Enjōji *Masamune Yūki *Nene Yūki *Yoshitsune Yūki *Momone Yūki *Suzune Yūki *Kazune Yūki *Penne *Karen Kamishiro *Mirai Asuka Trivia *This episode marks the series premiere of the Aikatsu Friends! series. *This episode marks the debut of protagonists Aine Yūki and Mio Minato, along with the following secondary characters: Tamaki Enjōji, Masamune Yūki, Nene Yūki, Yoshitsune Yūki, Momone Yūki, Suzune Yūki, Kazune Yūki and Penne. *Karen Kamishiro and Mirai Asuka makes a cameo appearance in this episode. **Their coords, the Diamond Angel Coord and the Diamond Future Coord also make a cameo appearance in this episode. *The opening theme song, Thank You⇄It'll Be Alright and the ending theme song, Believe it is first used in this episode. *The song Aikatsu Friends! debuts as an insert song. *The Pink Link Coord and the Blue Link Coord makes its debut in this episode. Gallery References Category:Anime Category:Episodes Category:Season One